Hagrid and illegal magic (used to be Re: Col. Fubster)

[jenny_ravenclaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 71005

Robyn excellently found us the JKR quote we were all looking for:

> In my books, magic almost always shows itself in a person before age 
11; however, there is a character who does manage in desperate 
circumstances to do magic quite late in life, but that is very rare in 
the world I am writing about.">

Jenny responds, really annoyed that no one ever seems to acknowledge 
what she writes and looks sympathetically in the direction of the 
Great Amandageist:

There you go.  Hagrid cannot be the one who develops magic later in 
life.  Why anyone thought that is truly beyond me, as Hagrid is 
ALREADY a wizard who is CAPABLE of magic but was not allowed to 
perform it.

I am also curious as to why anyone would think Hagrid will be in a 
position to save Dumbledore to begin with and why he'd be the one to 
actually do it.  Hagrid's strengths lie in his size (the only Hagrid 
scene I liked in OoP was when he took on the wizards with nothing but 
his hands, and won) and his ability (not always successful, mind you) 
to bond with strange and scary beasts.  I cannot imagine Dumbledore in 
a position where he may need saving from Aragog or a centaur.  

What I do see in relation to Hagrid (and this may be just me) is a 
major mess-up which actually could result in Dumbledore's death, not 
saving.  Hagrid might even lose his own life that way.  Hagrid may 
legally be allowed to do magic again, but his education is incomplete 
and his willingness to learn seems to be missing.  Hagrid is strong 
and quick to defend Dumbledore (as in GoF when Karkaroff was slammed 
against a tree) but in stressful situations, Hagrid is not at his 
best.  He is prone to fits of crying and stuttering - not the mark of 
a wizard powerful enough to save the likes of Dumbledore.

--jenny from ravenclaw **********************